Men's U21 World Championship 2021

Bahrain celebrate first on-court victory

The team from the Persian Gulf shut out Morocco to advance to U21 Worlds’ 13th-place match

Published 11:51, 02 Oct 2021

Bahrain achieved their first on-court victory at the FIVB Volleyball U21 Men’s World Championship on Saturday and will battle against Egypt for the 13th place in Sofia on Sunday. The squad from the Persian Gulf island mastered a clean-slate victory over Morocco at the Levski Sofia volleyball hall in the Bulgarian capital. The Moroccans will finish the U21 World Championship in the 15th place, above Cameroon, who withdrew before the start of the tournament.

Bahrain produced a 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-22) shutout of Morocco in Saturday’s only playoff match in the lowest part of the U21 World Championship bracket. The North African team maintained control of the scoreboard only during the first half of the first set. After reducing the unforced errors, Bahrain took over to win the set on a mishit spike by middle blocker Hasan Alaiwi, which still delivered the set winner.

Stepping up their serving, the Bahrainis established total domination on the court to win the second set by a wide margin. Morocco tried fighting back in the third, but the Bahraini attack, spearheaded by Sayed Amin Ebrahim, kept the pressure on the way to the victory. Ebrahim delivered the match high of 16 points, while Morocco’s Mohamed Yakki tallied 14, including four kill blocks.

“This is our first win, so I would like to thank everyone. Morocco are not an easy opponent, which made us start a bit slowly. We then began to closely follow our coach's instructions, to play better and managed to win in the end. It's really a pleasure to play at such a high-level tournament. It's my second World Championship and the feeling is always special. The venue, the conditions, and the entire atmosphere here are great,” Bahrain’s libero Bader Husain told Volleyball World.